Depth finders

[wissner]

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My depth finder on my 79/382 recently gave up the ghost. After 20 years that's not a bad return. I have been looking around for a replacement. The sending unit I have is mounted in a "hard wired" configuration, it is mounted in a hole drilled through the hull forward of the keel. This presents two problems. To fit a new sending unit the boat must be pulled, secondly I would like to mount the sending unit inside the boat so that I don't have to pull the boat and/or drill another hole in the hull. What type depth finder is recommended? The depth finder is about 3.5" to 4" in diameter and mounted at the forward end of the cockpit, below the step into the companionway. There are some great fishfinder type depthfinders but they are all rectangular and are not compatable.Thanks for any help

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[capnrichard]

Chip,
Datamarine still makes some good depth units in circular configuations. Are you looking for depth only or for the graphic fish finder? Also available on the market are some transducers that have a flap built into the truhull fitting so you don't get flooded to bad when removing the transducer if needed. If you could give more detail maybe I could help.?
Rod

 

[balthazor]

I tink Signet's model at about $250 is a good unit, up to 400 feet. I have an older datamarine that gives me fathoms up to 600 at least. Most newer units can be connected to inside transducers so you do not have to drill a new hole. And you may find that your old transducer still works and that it works on the same frequency as the new fathometers, so you can keep using the existing transducer. A decent marine electronics shop should be able to tell you what frequency your old one is and if you can just hook a new bulkhead unit to it. I did that once when my old flasher unit went out, and the new unit worked just fine with the old transducer.